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Boys and their toysOctober 2001
G'day folks,
The locals tell me that the winter snow in the Iya Valley can be easily two feet deep. I guess that means that it gets pretty cold, which I'm starting to believe. There is still some green in the trees, but the mornings are chilly, especially so since the sun doesn't creep over the mountain ridge and touch my apartment until after I have left for school. That Queensland sun seems even further away in the evening, when it is dark by half past five. I'm sleeping under three just-long-enough blankets already, but I'll soon need something more to beat off the cold.
Luckily, Yamashita-sensei, my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), has found a range of warm stuff in my cupboard. The electric blanket and heated carpet will get use pretty soon. Later in the piece will be the kotatsu - a coffee table sort of thing with a heating lamp underneath, over which you drape a heavy blanket and proceed to warm your feet underneath. There's also a kerosene heater, but I will try to avoid it to save the fumes. I can close the sliding doors between my sleeping room and the kitchen, so I should be pretty cozy up in my fourth floor apartment.
Physical warmth is one thing, but having something to do is quite another. Thus, in the past fortnight or so I've spent the better part of my income on some toys. First priority was getting music in my car. The old stereo wasn't working and I was already down to singing Advance Australia Fair for something to fill the many hours I spend driving. So it was off to the Yellow Hat store in Kawanoe for another adventure in communication. My bad Japanese was just good enough to point at the one I wanted, make sure it would fit in my car, pay the 36000 yen to have it installed, and be told that it would be ready in 40 minutes. The drive back home with my new dual CD and tape deck was wonderful. Toy number one - check. :)
By the start of this month, I'd also had about enough of the old computer that had been sitting on my desk at school since I arrived. It did everything I needed, just not very quickly. Our technology teacher, Hayashi-sensei, is good for putting bits of computers together very cheaply. So for only 30000 yen (maybe 450-500 Australian dollars) I am now typing merrily on something much quicker. Toy number two - check. :)
You might ask, what's the good of that computer at school? You can't play games on it there! And you'd be right. So this past Saturday saw me back in Kawanoe looking for a PlayStation 2. It's been tentatively on my wish list since I arrived, knowing that I would need something to while away a few long winter nights. I found a little TV games place with a staff member who speaks impressive English. 50000 yen later, I had a PS2, two games, two DVDs and a couple of pertinent accessories under my arm, a smile on my face, and no money left in my wallet. But I had enough fuel in the tank to get home and plug it in. Toy number three - check. :)
Of course, I got home to find that the games don't have English options. Maybe it will be incentive to learn Japanese more quickly, or maybe the friendly people at Sony customer support can help me out. But just about every one of my students plays TV games, so even if I can't understand the instructions, I still have a means of connecting with them. It's something to talk about and it stimulates them to hit me with their limited English.
Adding my mobile phone to that list, I'm pretty toyed up now, but I guess I'm starting to think about getting new speakers for the car and then traveling to Kobe to check out the laptops. A decent laptop will cost me about a month's salary, but it'd be nice to be able to work at home. For now, however, I'm pretty busy, so I'll hold off. At least for a little while. :)
Keeping me busy tonight, and hopefully every Wednesday evening from now on, will be a bit of volleyball training in Ikeda. Ikeda is the nearest centre of business, just under an hour away by car - not quite a city, it's classified as a town by Japanese standards, but it's where I do my shopping each week and it's big enough to have a volleyball team in the prefecture league. I'm looking forward to some competitive sport!
My volleyball girls at the junior high school had their autumn carnival last Thursday. With only six girls on the team (just enough to take the court), they were a little short on resources as compared to the competition, but they made a good go of it. Some of those teams were pretty damn good! It was certainly interesting to see how things work and size up the sporting culture of Japanese schools.
Ikeda is good not just for shopping, snack bars and volleyball, but also for the odd performance. Quite odd, in fact. I was expecting to see some traditional Japanese theatre last Friday, but instead was met by a crooning Japanese version of Joan Collins and her troupe of five dancing girls. After the initial shock, we relaxed into guarded amusement at the costumes - a throwback to gaudy 70's Saturday Night Fever sort of clothing that you can only get away with in Japan - and ended up having a good time. I had to admire the performance - it takes a lot of courage to get up there and belt it out in sparkling silver. And they do a mean Awa Odori, too. Nice one, girls!
After almost three months in the country, I'm still not quite into a routine. The festivals have been replaced by teaching workshops and seminars, such as the one I will be presenting at in late November. The occasional Saturday night baseball game fits into weekends that aren't otherwise taken up by trips to musical meetings or international days at distant schools. Today I have no classes because my JTE is away on business, but tomorrow I may have as many as five classes in six periods to make up for those missed. I sort of like not having a routine, but I guess that my ability to study Japanese is suffering for it. I now have the elementary school first grade Japanese textbook to get me moving.
It was two weekends ago that I turned up at Kito village for their elementary school's international day. Kito is, at best, three hours drive away from me on the other side of Tokushima's highest mountain, if I detour through the next prefecture. On this occasion, I went via Tokushima City to pick up some mates, so it took five hours. Five hours back, too. Quite a little mission, but well worth it.
Arriving on the Friday night, we were welcomed by local English teacher Mark, a Brit who is in his twelfth year in Kito. Also along for the ride were Americans Jeff and Chris (about 12 and 9 years respectively) and a handful of other JETs who are, like me, new at this English teaching thing. Meeting people who have been here so long is eye-opening. They speak fluent Japanese, they know about the local issues, they have stories to tell. It obviously takes a certain amount of humour and character to keep going. It made me wonder how long I could be here, what could keep me here longer than the three years I could stay on the JET Programme. Mark is about to get married, so I guess that's one thing that could keep you here, but Jeff doesn't seem to be doing any such thing. It's interesting. And at any rate, they are good people.
The kids at Kito Elementary were very genki, of course, and we had a great Saturday morning there. The afternoon saw us doing yoga - now I know why some people fall asleep as you relax at class' end! And the evening was taken up by a very friendly enkai (drinking party) and karaoke. We had intended to get up the next morning to climb Tsurugisan (said tallest mountain), but it was raining and we were all buggered. Climbing 1950 metres in the cold is tough without a hangover. We'll have to go back to see the view some other time. So we managed to get away by mid-morning for the long drive back to Nishiiya. Notwithstanding a few stops for one of my mates to empty his alcoholic stomach on the way, it was a good trip home. I promptly deposited myself at the onsen upon arriving. You beauty. :)
The onsen is top notch inside, but also has a nice outside pool. Wandering outside in the cold of an autumn night is a bit of a shock to the system, more so when you're naked, but sitting in a hot pool with light rain falling on your head is quite pleasant. It's almost a shame that there is a fence between the men's and women's pools. Since discovering the onsen, I head over about twice a week to soak and relax. They're getting used to seeing me. I think I can get used to going. :)
So with all this talk of toys and lengthy stays, just how long do I think I'll be here? I got my preliminary re-contract form just yesterday and have returned it with a circle around the "I want to stay another year" option. The mini-Pajero and PlayStation are both good for another couple of years. And I can't make a good go of the language in any less than two years. I'll see how I go with the winter, but I'm guessing that I'll see out my three years as a JET participant before returning to Australia. I will return on holidays, of course, though I can't tell you when that'll be, either - maybe next June. At the moment, it'd take a pretty good offer to steal me away from Japan, but in three years I might be ready for a new adventure. We'll see.
Lots of love,
Dave